Celebrate Mansfield 2022: The Guide

MANSFIELD, CT — The Mansfield Downtown Partnership is inviting area residents and visitors to gather in Downtown Storrs on Saturday for a day full of music, food, and fun at its 19th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival.

The Festival is scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. on and around Betsy Paterson Square.

The event is free.

Here is a guide to the festivities:

• The E. O. Smith Drumline will kick off the festivities at 2 pm. on Betsy Paterson Square. The group will will be followed by the E. O. Smith Chamber Singers to help mark the opening of the event.
• Mansfield businesses and community organizations and UConn departments, programs, and student groups will offer a variety of hands-on fun for all ages at more than 60 activity booths, which will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. on Dog Lane, Royce Circle, and Wilbur Cross Way.
• Also open during that time will be craft booths featuring the work of area crafters, makers, and artisans as part of the Juried Craft Show. Craft booths will be open on Dog Lane and will have items available for purchase.
• On Wilbur Cross Way, there will be a variety of entertainment options, especially for children in the Kids Zone.
• Scheduled to perform are the Mansfield Academy of Dance (2:15 p.m.) and Kidsville Kuckoo Revue (2:30 p.m.), Pete Haddad's Hubba Bubba Magic Show (3:30 and 5:30 p.m.) and An Hour of Clown with Anthony Sellitto (4:30 p.m.).
• New this year is an an Electric Vehicle Showcase with vehicles presented by EV Club of CT and Eastern Connecticut Green Action. The showcase will be open from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wilbur Cross Way. Visitors can meet local electric vehicle owners, get an up-close look at their cars, and ask about the ins and outs of electric vehicle ownership.
• Another new feature is the Scarecrow Decorating Contest. Scarecrows will be on display around the Festival. Residents can vote for their favorite creation at the Mansfield Downtown Partnership’s booth and the top three vote-getters will receive prizes.
• Learn new culinary techniques during cooking demos by award-winning chefs from UConn Dining Services. The demos will be at 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Dog Lane.
• The Storrs Farmers Market will be open from 3 to 5 p.m. at Town Hall.
• Head to the Square at 3 p.m. for a demo and dancing with UConn Swing & Blues. UConn Swing & Blues is a student organization that welcomes all members of the greater community to "learn and dance together." The group will lead a brief lesson on the lawn and then open it up for dancing.
• The UConn Jazz Quartet will take to the stage at 4 p.m. following the dancing. UConn Jazz Studies is a rigorous, performance-oriented program. Students enrolled in the program study the music of past generations while consciously striving to create music which is relevant to today.
• Throughout the full event, food booths will be open on Royce Circle and Bolton Road Ext.
• The Celebrate Mansfield Festival is a low-waste event. Throughout the Festival site, visitors will find waste stations featuring receptacles for composting, recycling, and trash. All participants, visitors, and volunteers are encouraged to help in reducing waste at this event and to sort their waste into the appropriate receptacle. Volunteers will be at the stations to help answer questions and guide sorting.
• As part of the low-waste efforts, our Festival food booths will have reusable utensils available. Please return these utensils to the wash bins at the waste stations. Partnership staff and volunteers will clean the used utensils and store them for future events - another way to help reach low-waste goals.
• At 5 p.m. Connecticut’s own Braiden Sunshine will take the main stage at Betsy Paterson Square. After performing in bands since the age of 9, Braiden auditioned and chose to become part of Team Gwen on Season 9 of NBC's television show, The Voice and made it all the way through to the semifinal round. Braiden recently graduated from UConn.
• At 6 p.m. everyone is invited to grab some dinner and head to Betsy Paterson Square for the closing concert featuring Argonaut & Wasp. Argonaut & Wasp formed over a love for house/dance music while living in Burlington, VT among a thriving jam scene, of which they never really fit in. Since moving to Brooklyn in 2015, they have been finding inspiration from the city itself and the different vibrant scenes within it. Their sound has developed into an amalgamation of the rhythm and energy from house music, cues from the jam/funk scene, and their love for the “leave everything on the table” attitude of NYC. Argonaut & Wasp released its debut album, Starlight 99, in 2021 and have been on the move ever since, touring nationally with a stop at the famed Troubadour in Los Angeles, an appearance at SXSW in Austin, and sold-out shows coast to coast. This summer, they performed as part of Two Roads Brewing Company’s Road Jam Music Fest in Stratford, CT and at the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts in Westport, CT. Argonaut & Wasp will perform from 6:30to 8 p.m. on the stage of the Jeffrey P. Ossen Family Foundation Pavilion on Betsy Paterson Square. Limited seating is available on the Square and guests are welcome to bring a blanket or a lawn chair. Alcohol and tobacco products (including all vaping) are prohibited on the Square.

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For more information, please visit downtownstorrsfestival.org or call the Mansfield Downtown Partnership (860-429-2740).